Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 12 October 2021.
Minister, could I call for an urgent statement from the Minister for Education and Welsh Language on our schools' readiness for the implementation of the new curriculum? Alongside the obvious impact the pandemic has had, many schools are currently really struggling with staff absences, and supply teachers are difficult to source at the moment due to the amount of teachers self-isolating and infected with COVID themselves. And this is clearly going to impact on the outcomes of the current Estyn inspections when trying to gauge the readiness of schools for the new curriculum. School meetings have been dominated by discussions on COVID rather than the implementation of this new curriculum. Headteachers and their teams are overstretched and need additional support, so I'd be grateful if the Minister could come to the Chamber to address these issues.